


Maybe

by tea (SPICEandTEA)



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Coda, Friendship, Gen, Hound of the Baskervilles, Hurt/Comfort, John-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-13
Updated: 2012-07-13
Packaged: 2017-11-09 21:37:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/458716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SPICEandTEA/pseuds/tea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Live-in, Housekeeper, Tool, Soldier. John went back to his list to see what he really meant to Sherlock Holmes.  His mind could only think of one answer (liability).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maybe

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This was written by me, tea. My first post to AO3 so I hope you like it. John's such a mental character, but the show never shows the workings of his mind. That's what I'm trying to do here. Enjoy~

 

Sometimes, John doesn’t know what’s going on.

Well, that’s an understatement. John doesn’t know what’s going on most the time (and then Sherlock gives him “the look” which may be the most irritable thing about living with Sherlock, that look. It makes him feel like a complete idiot). There are times when John thinks, sits in his chair and wonders, how any of this came to be. He’s living with London’s, and possibly the planet’s, most brilliant man: Sherlock Holmes, the world’s only consulting detective. He’s the closest thing to a hero (even though heroes “don’t exist”) John’s ever known; drives him crazy and makes him laugh at the same time.

And John’s so normal.

He wonders how Sherlock stands it, living with such an average bloke. He’s nothing special; an injured veteran, a doctor with a dysfunctional sister and a somewhat boring existence (nothing happens to him). Two complete opposites; common and uncommon, ordinary and extraordinary. Ordinary’s boring, ordinary is insignificant to Sherlock. Sherlock should have dropped him by now.

How is Sherlock not bored with him yet?

“John. Case.”

John stands up and walks to the door without a second thought, soundlessly grabbing his coat as he walks down the stairs. Sherlock smirks and they burst out onto the London sidewalk, hailing a cab as if it’s their morning routine and running through city streets like its commonplace for the average Londoner.

Maybe Sherlock keeps John around because he’s obedient; follows Sherlock’s orders to a tee (a “live-in” just like Moriarty said).

John does all the housework in the flat. He washes the dishes, dusts, does the shopping. He even cleans up the sitting room when he knows Lestrade or Mycroft is coming over. But Sherlock, he’s the epitome of mess. Between his experiments and habits and strange behavior, he’s a cyclone of dishevelment. The body parts are expected now, but lately John has been finding their juices around the flat and that is something he can’t tolerate (experiment or not).

Maybe Sherlock doesn’t kick him out because John is his housekeeper (since Mrs. Hudson definitely isn’t).

John thinks, sits in his chair and wonders, how Sherlock deals with him (shouldn’t it be the other way around?). John doesn’t mind living with the ingenious man, could even go so far to say he loves his life at 221B. He’s in the center of London, running around, helping people, making a difference; gets to see the world through the eyes of a brilliant man, learns how to think in a new way; laughs at his flatmate’s social quirks and corrects him when he needs it. Sherlock is John’s friend. Honestly, to John, he has been since the first day he met him at Bart’s.

Maybe Sherlock actually likes John’s company, sees him as a friend as well.

John throws out that possibility right away. Sherlock would never really feel that way about…anyone. There were a lot of reasons (sentiment’s a chemical defect found on the losing side): Sherlock would never purposely weaken himself by having a friend, especially one like John. He’s too logical to let that happen. John doesn’t mind that Sherlock only sees him as useful; but, he sees glimpses of hope for his  
case (the rescue during the “Blind Banker,” the pool, Irene Adler’s apartment).

“I don’t have friends.”

It wasn’t what he said (everyone has told him Sherlock Holmes doesn’t have friends), it was the way he said it. The malice, the way he spat the word friends like it was the most disgusting concept he ever heard, like he was disgusted that John actually thought himself a friend of the great Sherlock Holmes. John wasn’t insulted; he was disappointed, hurt. It was worse than “the look” (worse than feeling like a complete idiot. He felt like a fool).

Live-in, Housekeeper, Tool, Soldier. John went back to his list to see what he really meant to Sherlock Holmes. His mind could only think of one answer (liability).

“I don’t have friends.”

John nods (yes Sherlock, you made this clear last night, now drop it). Sherlock never wasted words, never repeated himself (only idiot’s had to be told things twice). Was Sherlock just trying to make a point, trying to mock John further?

“I’ve only got one.”

He takes it in for a moment, then continues to walk away. There’s no way Sherlock was serious, no way he would subject himself to this (this sentiment). He was just doing it to make up, for things to go back to the way they were so they could finish the case. John couldn’t let himself take it seriously and fall back into the comfy existence that was his lie (he may not know what’s going on more than sometimes, but he will never willingly be made a fool).

They finish the case and John sees himself as Sherlock sees him. Tool (experiment), Live-in (interview with therapist), soldier (even John can’t argue, he’s a damn good shot). But still, at the end of the day, Sherlock gives him his tea just like at the flat, and they giggle about some ridiculous joke that John comes up with off the top of his head. And they smile. The word liability is replaced with another (friend).

Sherlock lives with John because they’re friends.

This time, there is no maybe.


End file.
